


Becoming Righteousness

by PFDiva



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: M/M, OC courting death is also a thing, Unfortunate Implications, but what happens to him is pretty gross too, like sexual grooming of a child, not Ibex, this is not a happy tale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-21 23:25:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13751406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PFDiva/pseuds/PFDiva
Summary: Divine Candidates are teenagers amongst adults.  What happens when they spend time with children their own age?





	Becoming Righteousness

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on episode 21 of Counter/WEIGHT, so I'm obviously not caught up. A friend told me Ibex's canon pre-Divine name after I already came up with a great one for him, and I like mine better, so whateves. Important thing, though: this is NOT a happy story with a happy ending and if you are triggered by implications of teenagers being groomed and/or sexually assaulted, please don't read this. If you are triggered by suicidal Candidates, please don't read this.
> 
> For anyone who's left, I hope you...well, enjoy's probably the wrong word, but there you go.
> 
> Edited to add: I forgot Divines were Diasporan. Whoops! That's been changed now.

Osun met the candidate of Righteousness long before he met Righteousness. In darker moments, he wonders if he regrets that fact. At his brightest and best, he knows that it was meant to be. When a candidate no longer embodies their mech, things begin to deteriorate.

He remembers the moment he first saw the candidate in great detail--he and his father had been at the docks, welcoming a number of high-class off-worlders. One of them, a beautiful boy with a bright smile and a long ponytail disembarked with the older men, talking and laughing with them, leaning into their touches like they were old friends.

Osun's task was supposed to be watching and learning. He'd be taking over after his father someday, and needed to know the people who held sway over his home. He only had eyes for the boy, barely older than himself. And he was a candidate! Osun had never imagined the candidate would be so young, especially not considering the things he heard said about what candidates in general did, what Righteousness's candidate in particular did.

Most of the conversation flew over Osun's head, but he managed to catch the fact that the candidate's name was Aurata and he was 18. He was a whole three years older than Osun and seemed so mature and full of life. He knew how to talk to the adults in ways that Osun could never get away with. Osun was serious and reserved, as his father had taught him to be, in direct contrast to Aurata's sunny physicality. Aurata seemed like a shining beacon amidst the dourness of the more experienced politicians.

In hindsight, Aurata was rather more like a well-trained pet, performing the tricks expected of him.

Either way, Osun assumed he had flown under Aurata's notice until the moment one of Osun's father's business associates put a hand on the small of Aurata's back. Aurata wasn't a small man, but he seemed very young when he tipped his head on its side to acknowledge the man introducing himself as Aurata's guide. Aurata looked over his shoulder at Osun with a desperation Osun mistook for longing.

Then he smiled and Osun couldn't help but smile back, dazed with desire. In a sudden burst of motion, Aurata broke away from his intended guide, taking both of Osun's hands in his own as he exclaimed that it had been So Long since he'd spent time with another child his own age and surely Osun's father wouldn't mind letting Osun be his guide this time?

If Osun had been thinking with the head on his shoulders rather than the one between his legs, he'd have noticed the way his father's face blanched and went tight. He would have noticed the frustration on the face of Aurata's intended guide and the smugness of Aurata's companions. He only noticed the warm hands holding his own and the fact that Aurata was close enough to notice how good he smelled.

From that moment forward, Osun and Aurata were inseparable. Osun showed Aurata all the sights there were to see, followed Aurata to meetings he felt he surely shouldn't have been allowed into if it weren't for Aurata. They had meals at places his father couldn't afford, stayed in luxurious hotel rooms where they talked and chatted into the early hours of the morning about anything and everything.

Osun was always on Aurata's arm, neglecting classes, his family, and all the warning signals. Every meeting Aurata brought Osun to consisted of Diaspora delegates who made a show of protesting before Aurata 'calmed' them to discuss trivialities that even Osun knew about. Aurata's 'everything' when they talked was things like the fact that his real name was Hassan, while Osun's was the fact that people were hopeful that Diaspora's arrival would mean an upswing for the planet.

Osun noticed that Aurata would often put on a gravitas and maturity that could stagger and drive off men three times his age. Osun didn't notice that the victims of this were never Diaspora. He didn't notice that for all the meetings he was let into, none were ever with people from his planet. Osun told Aurata "I love you" and didn't notice the way Aurata's smile curled when Aurata said "I love you too."

Osun spent more nights with Aurata than his own family, even though they tried to keep him home, keep him later, get him to come home at all. But Aurata knew all sorts of things. Things about kissing. Things about more than kissing. He was always vague about where he'd learned all the things he knew, but the 20/20 lens of experience suggested that Aurata learned what he knew from politicians across the galaxy who were old enough to be his parents and grandparents.

Everything stopped when Aurata addressed the planet, his words turning Osun's nuggets of local gossip into daggers that made Osun's father (and everyone associated with his father) look like fools. Righteousness would come because the local leadership was incompetent and the people knew it. And after Aurata spoke, even the people who had been opposed to Righteousness coming knew it was the right thing to do. At least until it actually happened.

The worst part was that Osun's father didn't yell at Osun. He didn't blame Osun. To hear him speak, it was only inevitable that Osun would fall victim to Aurata. Aurata had done it to men older than Osun's father. Of course Osun was vulnerable.

He hated that. It made him burn to know that everyone saw what had happened as inevitable. They saw it as _what Aurata did._ They pitied Osun, even though he'd doomed their planet. He made up his mind right then and there that he would fix this issue, and he knew how he was going to do it. He had to wait for Righteousness to arrive to do it, but he didn't mind. He didn't mind a single bit.

Osun found Aurata with Righteousness after the parade. He counted it lucky that Aurata was alone with his Divine (which occupied a rigger at the time), rather than ominous. He greeted Aurata with a yell that made Righteousness reach out a hand to bring Osun to the cockpit. Aurata waited there, serene and unbothered. He smiled at the sight of Osun and reached out to the younger boy like they were still lovers.

"I knew you were the one," Aurata breathily assured Osun before choking. A knife between the ribs made breathing rather difficult, Osun assumed. He threw Aurata from the cockpit, watching until Aurata's body crunched into the ground so far below. He was the first person Osun killed, though far from the last. He felt like he should have been sick, but he wasn't. Looking at Aurata's broken body so far below, Osun could only feel resolute. Righteous. He was the candidate now, for better or worse, and he would defy anyone to stop him.

The Diasporan delegates, rightly worried for Aurata, came for Osun. It was too late. Righteousness had chosen him, and he'd chosen it back. Righteousness wouldn't function for anyone else.

Aurata was the first and last person to betray Osun. From that day forward, he was called Ibex, and Ibex trusted noone. Not even himself.

**Author's Note:**

> Aurata is a type of mountain cat, if you're wondering where I got the name.


End file.
